New Beer Sunday (Week 749)

Had to make a store run and was met with a blast of July heat as soon as I opened the front door. Picked up this appropriate number . . .




Slightly hazy lemon yellow color with white cap and good lacing.

Aroma is a mild mixture of sweet grain and slightly floral hops.

Taste is first an impression of a moderately full bodied brew. More than the appearance and aroma imply. There is a textural thing going on here that may in fact be the beer's most appealing feature. The grain flavor is sweetish but muted with a somewhat firm hop presence kicking in at the back of the palate accompanied by some sharp citrus like lemon zest.

Medium texture with balancing carbonation. Unlike some other wheat ales this one is certainly not thin.

A Summer wheat ale that doesn't come across as thin and sharp, rather a pleasant chewy texture with enough citrus and hop influence to keep things interesting.

 

Hey what's going on?!

Man I am out of beer! Holy cow I need to do a beer run so I went on a little tour and some stops.

Made it to DC Brau and they have lots of goodies, including a Lavender Lemon berliner Weisse.



But had this really tasty barleywine which I had to get a review in for.



Poured on tap at dc brau. 5 oz into a taster cup.

Pale amber, slightly cloudy with a lemon colored edge. Faint tan creamy collar to khaki presented.

Excellent aroma. Explosive fruit tones of sharp lemon and a supper sticky caramel. Oozing raisin and juice with touches of mild oak.

Palate really sings. Rich bodied with thick but controlled touches of caramel and light raisin. The fruit quality on this is explosive, faint touches of cherry, tangy sweet citrus of lemon and orange rind, and a thick crystal tasting sugar molasses like component. Great mouth feel almost silky, with this wonderful buttery toffee note.

Great barleywine, real impressed.

look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5

Cheers!

 

The C&D letter is in the mail...

 

Good. They've been waiting for it.

 

Other Half Brewing - Double cream get the honey


Pours a very saturated amber to orange color with a bigger, spongy head.


Compared to other dipas of this brewery, this is almost timid on the nose, with just a glimpse of sliced lemon, cucumbers and green mango. Inherits a dose of lighter wild honey on top of that, together with cakey malts and dried grass.


Drinks smooth and soft with a low carbonation level, which lets this appear creamy and silk on the tongue with a lighter to medium body to it.


Tastes of light tangerine, prickly kiwi and smoothing honey. The honey brings a noteable sweetness to the palate, allowing bread dough and caramel to blend into the hop foundation of this, taming the faint bitterness in this even more. Finishes with more lime, an actual hop bite and more creamy honey, which, at this stage has more of a distracting feel to it, than creating complexity.


This is unexcitingly bland, with creamy honey and just a hint of non-expressive hops.

 

Happy NBS everyone. Starting with a new, low calorie lager from Ballast Point.

Can is dated February 19. Oh well, my son bought it, not me.
Nice large head but it fades. Nice bubble propagation rising through light gold clear beer the entire session.
Sweet grassy aroma. The first few sips seem sweet also, but this changes to a nice hop hit with balane at the end. The mouthfeel is not bad for such a low cal beer.
Overall, not a bad choice for a hot day.

 

Yeah... they would like the David & Goliath social media cred!

 

Hey all. Happy New Beer Sunday.

Interesting questions today, @cjgiant. Used to be I would pretty much have a beer anytime, but once I got a job that has me working afternoons and evenings, it’s pretty much only late nights and weekends for me.

As for glassware, I really like my collection of snifters, but I also have a couple glasses better suited for stouts. Speaking of those, I’m using my favorite barrel aged glass with this week’s new beer, gifted to me by @BrewsOverHoes in the largest beer box I ever received.

Atlanta Brewing Company’s Post•bel•lum.

It’s pretty dark throughout, had some nice foam on pour, but didn’t really last and there’s not much lacing. Pretty standard. A: 4

Bourbon barrel smell is in the forefront with a big woody tang, roasty malt in the middle, with subtle notes of coffee, maple, and chocolate. Slightly smoky. Nice depth. S: 4.25

Quite tasty. Strong barrel presence is what jumps out. Plenty of smoky and boozy wood barrel flavors. Roasty dark malt, notes of coffee and chocolate. A little more age might make the barrel presence a bit more subtle, but that seems like not much of a complaint.
T: 4.25

Feel is very good for a barrel aged stout. Medium bodied and mouth watering. Not oily and not thick. One of those “just right” stouts. Definite alcohol presence. Quite enjoyable to drink. F: 4.5

Total would be 4.25, overall was 4.26.

New beer, new music.

 

Good afternoon NBS!!! Had a new beer earlier, but was at the brewery so didn’t put in the time for a review, might review a bottle of that beer later tonight. My first review of the day comes from @CanConPhilly, Other Half Triple Simcoe Daydream. I feel that since milkshake IPAs have been a thing a lot of breweries focus too much on the lactose and over do it, but Other Half seems to have figured out how to dial back the lactose in their Daydreams so it doesn’t overwhelm the beer.

4.44/5 rDev 0%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.5

Thank you CanConPhilly for this
16 oz can, dated 5/20/19, poured into teku

A- A hazy golden orange with two finger white head.

S- Magno, dank, some lactose, piney, citrus, tropical fruits, touch of malt sweetness.

T- Mango, citrus, some pineapple, tropical fruits, touch of sweet malts, hint of lactose, a little dank and piney.

M- Smooth, medium to full body, creamy.

O- Another great Daydream from Other Half.

Cheers!

 

Next up...



Berry Jammer

Sixpoint Brewery
Leipzig Gose / 4.00% ABV

3.73/5 rDev -3.6% | Score: 3.87
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75

L-The beer pours a slightly hazy pink with a 1 3/4 finger white head. The head recedes quickly down to a thin ring. Lacing is minimal.
S-The nose is of course berry forward. Individual berries are a tough to pick up. There is certainly some raspberry, a lighter strawberry presence, and another presence which is giving me the impression of cranberries in the finish. I'm not sure about this last one, but that's what I'm getting at the end.
T-On the palate the beer is much more tart than the nose. It's also much more tart than the Ruby Jammer was. There is a solid natural berry presence from start to finish. Like any good Gose there is a touch of salinity in the linger.
F- Mouthfeel overall is very light. It's rather watery for a wheat beer. Carbonation is low moderate.
O- This one is ok. The berry tartness overpowers the salinity and the drinkability suffers. It's hard to pick out the individual berries and it's a bit disappointing when compared to others in the pack. That said the stronger tartness will appeal to some.

 

Dark Apparition from Jackie O's

4.25/5 rDev +1.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Nice velvety mocha colored head doesn't hang around too long but that's ok because it's no longer muting the aroma of almond, fig and molasses. Tastes big on the molasses upfront and throughout but a few more flavors work their way in. What was fig in the aroma turns more towards raisin and the almond translates to a little bit of an alcohol taste, especially in the dry finish where a hint of smoky coffee is the only other flavor at work. Mostly a nice thick, chewy beer that thins out just a little.

 

Well, after skimming down to that, I accepted the challenge and went back and read every word!

 

I need some advice. We've been eating some great peaches lately and I would appreciate some guidance in the world of dryish styles...

 

Funky Buddha's Wide Awake It's Morning being shared with my wife.

4.46/5 rDev -1.5%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5

Pours black with a half inch khaki head that leaves very little lacing. Smells is very maple syrup forward with bacon, coffee and toast coming in the background. Tastes of maple syrup, coffee, molasses, toast, bacon, roasted malts, vanilla, milk chocolate and roasted malts. Full bodied especially for a porter, lightly carbonated, thick and creamy mouth feel, mildly bitter finish.

 

Three new beers from Une Année Brewery on order today... my local place just got these in today, so while I was out and about I figured why not stop in and grab 'em all... good timing!

First up is a "saison with oranges" called Less Is More.



This 5.5% ale pours a pale golden color with yellowish highlights and a firm, voluptuous head that initially causes the beer to come across a bit overcarbonated from the outset, but the foam settles down to a small, thin ring atop my glass after a few minutes. Not much lace or legs to speak of here. Nearly opaque body, but still carries with it a nice visible carbonation through the haze.

The nose features a note of ripe Valencia orange peel and a bit of crackery Pilsner malt combined with the requisite spicy yeast that defines an aggressive Americanized saison-type ale. The high dose of phenols/ferulic acid/clove-like spice in the nose here indicates that they probably fermented it pretty warm. Any time my buddy and I have produced a homebrew batch that we wanted to have a lot of clove in (we do a mean Franziskaner-type hefe and have done a few saisons before as well), we do a ferulic acid rest to produce 4VG which gives these types of beers their characteristic clove-like elements, then ferment a little warmer than normal (esp. with the saison strains). I find the citrus a little pushed-back in the nose here, honestly... I likely would not have known they used oranges specifically if they didn't mention that element on the label, but I feel like I can honestly tell there was an attempt, and it definitely has a light, bright fruitiness to it.

A little slick on the tongue, with a nice crackery and malty mid-palate that leads towards a satisfying finish of citrus oils, clove-like spice, herbal hops, and a quenching dryness. I enjoy the fact that this beer isn't overly fruity, and it doesn't lean on the orange addition whatsoever. Instead, that element is just a part of the whole, which makes this beer fairly true to its name. Combine all of this with the modest ABV for the style and I'd consider this a very solid Summer saison. Could have better head retention and it could maybe push the citrus slightly more (even if that means a slightly more intense hop load to give the fruit itself some "oomph"?), but this is good for what it is.

I have a peach wild ale and a Vic Secret single-hopped DIPA from these guys next. Right now, however, I have some chores to do, and some buffalo chicken dip to make. See you all soon!

 

Good Sunday afternoon, New Beer Samplers and commentators. After days of heat and humidity typical for June in North Jersey, today is absolutely beautiful: Temps in the low '80s with low humidity and a cooling breeze. Perfect for deck drinking. My first new beer today is Brothers from Another Mother, a 7% NEIPA brewed as a collaboration between Two Ton Brewing in Kenilworth, NJ, and Resident Culture Brewing Co. in Charlotte. It looks and smells like a classic New England IPA but the fruitiness is subdued in the taste and it's well-balanced with biscuit and the Centennial hops add lots of bitterness, along with the Citra and Mosaic. It really grew on me as I sipped it. Two Ton is located close to where I work and I like to visit. They're making great progress and I'm rooting for them. Here's my full review:

4.05/5 rDev 0%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Reviewed three days after release. Poured into a snulip glass. It pours an opaque, turbid orange-brown color with a thin, creamy milk-white head and extensive, soapy lacing. Its fruity, aromatic nose features lemon, tangerine, pineapple, ripe honeydew melon, onion, and floral hops. It's dryer and less sweet than the smell would indicate, opening with bitter lemon peel and resinous pine. However, at the glass warms it bit I'm tasting more of the advertised fruit, including some berry It's nicely dank. The bill of Citra, Centennial, and Mosaic adds fruitiness and bitterness but without a strong bite. There is also a slight biscuit taste. It finishes decidedly bitter. The feel is moderately creamy with pleasant carbonation, and at 7% ABV it's an easy drinker. Overall, my initial reaction was that the taste was not what I expected. However, as I sipped it it grew on me. Brothers from Another Mother is neither a bitter hop bomb nor overly fruity; it's well balanced and enjoyable. I'm glad Two Ton canned it and it's nice to see them collaborating with a well-regarded brewer outside of New Jersey.

I'm keeping it lite today; no barrel-aged beers. I hope to be back shortly with a local DIPA. In the meantime, I hope you're all enjoying your new beer(s) as you prepare for 4th of July. Cheers, NBS!